Self-threading shuttle for looms.



No. 805,861. PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905. H. A. KENNEDY.

SELF THREADING SHUTTLE FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7. 1905.

FIE .7.

jitmuflxexmau UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. KENNEDY, OF W ARWIGK, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES SMITH, OF PROVIDE NOE, RHODE ISLAND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed February '7. 1905. Serial No. 244.539.

T0 mZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. KENNEDY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Warwick, in the county of Kent and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self- Threading Shuttles for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to self-threading shuttles, so called, adapted to be used in looms employed for weaving textile fabrics; and it consists, essentially, of an endwisemovable spring pressed slotted tube or threadin -eye mounted transversely in the front end portion of the shuttle and means for temporarily locking the eye member in the retracted position while the weft-thread or filling-yarn is being inserted therein, constructed and arranged whereby upon releasing or unlocking the then threaded eye the force of the spring operates to automatically advance the eye and deliver its thread through the correspondin or front side of the shuttle, all as more y hereinafter set forth and claimed.

I am aware that various mechanical devices have been heretofore employed for delivering cop-yarn through the side of the shuttles. Such former means, however, were more or less complicated in construction and expensive to produce and also liable to become inoperative. Moreover, the ordinary shuttle-bodies were not well adapted to be converted into shuttles of the self-threading class or type.

In my improved shuttle for looms the selfthreading device or attachment is both simple and inexpensive and not liable to get out of order. It is capable of being readily locked preparatory to threading the shuttle with the cop-yarn and is easily and readily adjusted to the normal working position. I

may add that the threading operation may be performed quickly and positively and that the device is well adapted to be substituted for the usual threadin -eye employed in the ordinary wooden shutt e.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a top or plan view, in partial horizontal section, of an ordinary loom-shuttle, or rather the forward end portion of it, pro vided with my improved self-threading device, the latter being represented in the normal working position. Fig. 2 is a similar plan view showing the device in the locked or open position to receive the filling-thread. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view corresponding with Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front side elevation corresponding with Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 00 r of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the threading member detached from the shuttle, showing a slightly-modified form; and Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the same.

The following is a more detailed description of my invention, including the manner of operation:

The shuttle as a whole is indicated by A and its wooden body portion by a, in which latter the usual cop m and its spindle s are mounted. The drawings represent only the forward portion of the cop and spindle. At the point where the threading-eye is usually located the shuttle is bored transversely from the front side (1 toward the rear side (4 thereby producing a hole or deep socket n, in which the spring-pressed tube or eye member b is movably fitted. The rear end of said hole forms an abutment or partition 0 Fig. 1. The said member I) has a central shank or rearward extension b passing freely through the partition and is capped with the flange or head 0, the latter when the shuttle is in normal action lying in a shallow recess 0, formed in the rear side of the shuttle. As thus arran ed the outer face of the flange is normally below the rear face or side a of the shuttle. In the space formed between the rear end of member I) and said partition 0 and surrounding the shank b is mounted a helical spring t, the function of which latter is to keep the eye member normally closed, the said flange 0 at the same time limiting the eyes forward movement by reason of its engagement with the exterior face of the partition 0 all as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The eye portion proper of said threading member I) is tubular, the same having a suitable short transverse peripheral opening (1 cut through its wall and being in direct open communication with a narrow longitudinal-opening or slit (1, extending from the front end of the tube. The said openings or slots are smooth and well rounded, so as to freely receive and deliver the yarn f without chafing or abrading it. It will be seen, referring to Fig. 5,

.that the material of the shuttle extends above the center or axis of the eye member I),

thereby maintaining the latter in position in the hole n, a portion of the device being exposed. In order to hold or look the eye member in the open position while it is being threaded, it is provided on its under side with a short pin or latch b the same passing downwardly through a slotted opening h,

formed transversely in the base of the shuttle, the latter being recessed contiguous thereto on its under side, as clearly shown at 0, Figs. 3 and 5. At a point corresponding with the open position of the eye member-"that is to say, when the said opening or slot d thereof is at or near the longitudinal axis of the shuttle, or in alinement, say, with the cop-spindle (see Fig. 2)I provide a notch h in the base-opening h, the same being located opposite the corresponding position of the pin or latch 6 and into which notch the latter may be swung, first pressing the member 1) rearwardly.

In Figs 6 and 7 I have represented the eye member I) as having a sli htly-modified construction. In this case the member is made of a suitably-shaped thin sheet-metal blank bent to a substantially tubular form and secured to the enlarged front end of the shank I). A portion of the tube extends above the general surface and forms a guide or wing d adapted to facilitate the introduction of the yarn into the slotted openings d d. In this construction, however, the wing portion may be bent outwardly or upwardly after the eye member has been inserted in the seat n of the shuttle. When thus mounted in the shuttle, it obviously is to be provided with the spring t and operating-latch W, as before stated with respect to the other figures.

The shuttle may be provided with a suit able resistance or tension device for the yarn f, on or over which device the yarn passes from the cop to the threading-slot of the eye member I), substantially as represented in Fig. 5, wherein f indicates, say, a piece of felt secured to the shuttle-body.

The manner of threading the shuttle is as follows: After placing the cop m upon its spindle s in the usual way, the eye member I) then being open and in the retracted and locked position, (shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5,) the operator next forms a partial loop or bend in the free end portion of the-yarn leading .from the cop, and readily places it in the slotted opening (Z d, Fig. 2, followed by press ing the latch b in the arrow direction, Fig. 5, thereby releasing it from the notch h, which movement at the same time swings the member b a corresponding angular distance, at which instant, too, the action of the spring it quickly forces the eye or threader b endwise until arrested by the engagement of the rear flange 0 with the partition 0 This latter movement also carries the front end of the eye and the contained portion of the yarn threaded therein through the front side of the shuttle into the longitudinal groove p, usually present in loom-shuttles, and completely closes the eye from the upper recessed portion a and the other contiguous cut-away portions of the shuttle. (See Figs. 1 and 4:.) The dotted circle in Fig. 3 indicates the nor mal or unlocked position of the latch h in the slot h.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent 1. As an improved article of manufacture a loom shuttle for carrying weft yarn or thread, said shuttle having a threading device consisting of a substantially tubular endwise-movable spring-pressed threadingeye member mounted transversely therein, the said eye member being provided with a slit or passage adapted to freely receive therein the delivery end. portion of the yarn or thread when the eye member is pressed rearwardly from its normal or closed position in the shuttle to uncover the outer end of the tube.

2. In a shuttle of the character described, a movably-mounted eye member having a passage or slit therein to receive the yarn or thread, means for securing said member in the open or retracted position to readily permit the introduction therein of the yarn and meansnfor imparting an endwise movement to the eye member, whereby the latter automatically delivers-the yarn through the side of the shuttle, substantially as described.

3. In a shuttle of the character described, an endwise-movable spring-pressed threading-eye member mounted in a transverselyarranged hole or seat located in the forward end portion of the shuttle, said member having an opening or slot extending through its wall to receive the weft yarn or thread, a pin or latch secured to the eye member, a slotted opening formed in the shuttles base communicating with said seat and having the latch extending downwardly therethrough, and a lateral notch into which the latch may be swung for temporarily locking the eye member in the retracted or open position while the yarn is being introduced into it.

at. In a shuttle of the character described, having a transverse hole or seat n and a slot h formed in the base thereof, the combination therewith of the longitudinally-movable spring-pressed apertured eye member I) mounted in said seat, a latch or device secured. to said eye and extending therefrom through the slot 7L whereby the eye may be forced rearwardly in its seat and past the inner face of the front side of the shuttle to temporarily uncover or open said eye to freely receive the weftyarn, and a stop for limiting the forward movement of the eye member, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a loom-shuttle, the combination of the endwise-movable spring-pressed tubular IIO ing it in the normal Working position in the IO shuttle.

Signed at Providence, Rhode Island, this 6th day of February, 1905.

HENRY A. KENNEDY. I

Witnesses:

G110. H. REMINGTON, JAMES SMITH. 

